A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli strike in south Lebanon has carried the Olympic torch in Paris to honour the journalists wounded and killed in the field.
The torch relay, which started in May, is part of the celebrations in which about 10,000 people from various walks of life were chosen to carry the flame across France before the Olympic Games open on July 26.
Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency was among a group of journalists struck by Israeli shelling on October 13, 2023, while reporting on a fire exchange along the border between Israeli troops and members of Hezbollah.
Assi was severely wounded and had part of her right leg amputated.
The attack killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah. Al Jazeera said its cameraperson Elie Brakhia and reporter Carmen Joukhadar were injured, along with AFP videographer Dylan Collins.
In November last year, Rabih al-Maamari and Farah Omar of the pan-Arab television network Al-Mayadeen were also killed in an apparent Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon while covering the conflict.
On Sunday, Collins pushed Assi’s wheelchair as she carried the torch across the suburb of Vincennes as their AFP colleagues and hundreds of spectators cheered them on.
“I wish Issam was here to see this. And I wish what happened today was not because we were struck by two rockets,” Assi told The Associated Press, struggling to hold back her tears.
“I wish I could have honoured journalists this way while walking and in my best health.”
